Content-addressable storage (CAS) is a technology for storing data in a way that the data can be stored and retrieved based on the content of the data and not the storage location (e.g., storage address) of the data in a recording device or media. When a data object is stored in a CAS, the data object may be given a name that uniquely identifies the data object. For example, the content of a data object may be used to generate a hash value that uniquely identifies the data object, thereby creating a content address that may be used to identify and retrieve the data object from the CAS system. Generating a content address may eliminate a need for a centralized index used to track the location of a stored data object. As an example, a request to retrieve data from a CAS system may include a content address for a data object. Using the content address, the CAS system can determine a physical location of a data object and retrieve the data object from the CAS.
Storing data in a CAS may allow for deduplication of data objects in the CAS. For example, using the content of identical data objects to generate hash values results in identical hash values. Because the hash values are identical, a single data object may be stored to a CAS as opposed to storing multiple identical data objects, thereby reducing an amount of storage space needed to store the identical data objects.